


Cherries for Christmas

by cinnamon_skull



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, Confusion, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Sexual Tension, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 10:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5494070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamon_skull/pseuds/cinnamon_skull
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After taking the wrong phone home from the bar, a case of mistaken identity takes Eren on the wildest—and most unexpected—blind date of his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cherries for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> ERERI SECRET SANTA!
> 
> Prompt: "I took your mobile phone as mine and vise versa by mistake because we have the same model and when we notice it was too late for us to return it on the same day so i decided to go through your phone to search for any clue of the owner but oh no that naked selfie is kinda hot hnngh"
> 
> For: Homoerens
> 
> Merr Chrissmas, happy holidays, enjoy!

“Ughhh,” Eren groaned, slamming another empty glass down. He leaned over the bar and cradled his head in his arms, trying to forget inverse trigonometry and every single theorem in existence. At the moment, his own name was coming up fuzzy on his tongue, so all things considered it was turning out to be a successful night.

“That good, huh?” He could hear the smirk in Jean’s voice. His roommate had been more than willing to raise a little hell with Eren, his own classes having wrapped up a few days ago, just shy of the start of their holiday break.

“Just think,” he continued, and Eren could feel the sharp bones of Jean’s elbow digging into his arm where he was leaning back against the bar, “You could have been a writer.”

“Go fuck a cc-arrot, ponyboy,” Eren slurred, pushing at Jean’s elbow without looking up from his arms.

“You see?” Jean rapped his knuckles against Eren’s scalp. “That’s fucking poetry.”

Eren would have replied with a witty comeback, but the backs of his eyelids were spinning stars and moons, and that was infinitely more interesting at the moment.

Anything was better than Eren’s last semester. As a graduate student in a competitive engineering program, he studied, studied and studied some more, and had little time for much else.

He had Jean to keep him company at least, and as far as roommates went he was pretty chill. They fought sometimes—one particularly nasty brawl early on had landed them both in the ER for stitches—but they’d reached an understanding in their friendship.

It also didn’t hurt that Jean had pretty good weed sometimes and liked to accompany him to the local bar on nights when they both needed to unwind. Especially the first night of Eren’s freedom for a few blissful weeks.

“Is he okay?” Someone with a deep voice asked next to Jean. The sound made the lights shining under his lids fade out to darkness.

“He just finished his finals,” Eren heard Jean say. “Engineering.” As if that explained everything. To any sane person, it would.

The explanation must have worked, because the other person made a sympathetic noise followed by the sharp clank of another glass hitting the bar. “My condolences. What are you drinking?”

“Jame-ssome,” Eren muttered, his forehead still planted firmly on the wood. Now the voice was painting colors where none had been before—sharp, breathtaking reds that spun and twirled through his mind like drops of ink in water.

“Two glasses of Jameson, neat,” the nice voice said with a low laugh. “And you?”

“Just a PBR, man,” Jean said, and there was a cocky swerve to his voice that told Eren the newcomer was hot. Still, it wasn’t enough for him to lift his head from the bar, even with the fire burning up his eyes. “Hey, I’ve seen you around, right?”

A group of rowdy college students entered the bar then, obnoxiously loud to Eren’s sleep-deprived and buzzed mind, singing a dirty holiday carol or something. It was hard for Eren to tell, really.

He heard a mention of Mikasa’s name as Jean and the stranger continued their chat and then nothing else but the wailing, annoyingly catchy “Christmas sex,” war cry of the festive barbarians.

Eren felt the bartender place another glass of whiskey in front of him, so for a while the only thing he knew was the rim of the glass under his lips and the quickly depleting weight of amber liquid in his hand.

Wall Rose, their favorite dive bar, was a mix of nautical themes and cheap red leather, complete with mottled netting and various sea creatures clinging to the walls among faded photographs and dim red Christmas lights that hung from the ceiling year-round. The owner’s name was Erwin and sometimes his wife went around with a tray of free shots mixed with a vodka-soaked maraschino cherry that tasted like nail polish remover, but it all added to the charm.

Eren cradled his head in his arm again and watched the way the red lights glowed and thought about how it would be nice to have a white Christmas this year.

“I think you’ve had enough to drink,” Jean said, snapping his fingers near Eren’s ear. “Eren? Eren? Are you sleeping?”

“S’no, s’not sleeping,” Eren mumbled, pushing himself up to stare at his roommate.

“It’s a holiday miracle,” Jean said.

Eren thought holiday miracles were stupid and something created by Hallmark to sell cards and Lifetime movies.

Jean started gathering their things from the bar. “Okay, keys, wallet… Eren, is that your hat?”

“Rude to steals sommuns hat, Jawwws,” Eren said and grabbed his beanie and jammed the phone sitting next to it into his pocket before wobbling off the barstool.

“You’re lucky I owe you one, you angry teddy bear,” Jean said, grabbing Eren under his arm and guiding him out of the bar. “I was about to get laid.”

Eren thought that was the funniest thing ever to Jean’s immediate displeasure. He didn’t stop laughing until they were walking up the steps to their apartment. In his opinion, Jean “let” him fall down more times than was strictly necessary, but Eren guessed he deserved it.

“Go to sleep you fucking animal,” Jean said, shoving Eren into his bed. He pulled off his shoes roughly and then arranged the blanket around his body. “I’m not taking your pants off.”

Another surely witty comeback got stuck on Eren’s tongue, so he just mumbled and turned on his side, pulling the covers up around his head and blacking out to the world—he enjoyed several hours of much-needed, blissful sleep.

Before he knew it, he was awoken by bright light shining through the curtainless windows of his room.

“Ughh,” Eren said. He had cotton mouth, and he was so immensely thirsty that he could almost ignore the pounding at the back of his skull.

He scrunched up his eyes up and surveyed his nightstand. Jean had taken pity on him last night and left a water bottle for him to drink, and he made a mental note to get his roommate a decent Christmas gift this year.

As soon as he drank the whole thing, Jean barged into his room with no regard for appropriate volume. “It’s Mikasa, she wants to talk to you.”

“Fuck, Jean!” Eren groaned, covering his head with his hands. “Don’t be so loud, Christ.”

Jean cupped his hand over the speaker of the phone. “She’s yelling at me so I’m yelling at you.”

“Why are you talking to Mikasa?” His head felt like it was filled with slowly drying cement.

“I’m not talking to Mikasa,” Jean mimicked Eren in a high-pitched voice. “She called for you.” Jean pushed the phone in Eren’s direction and ignored his obvious signs of hangover-induced death.

Eren made no reach for it. “Why would she do that?”

Jean chucked the phone on the bed so it hit Eren in the thigh, hard. “Will you just take the fucking phone, Jesus Christ Eren!” he walked out of the room and slammed the door loudly (and on purpose).

“What time is it?” Eren asked, picking up the phone to his ear.

“Four in the afternoon, princess,” Mikasa said in a chipper tone that made Eren regret his life choices. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Eren groaned, kicking off the covers to find he’d slept in his jeans. Shit.

“Have fun last night?” Mikasa sounded so happy it made Eren want to hate her, just a little.

“Merrk,” Eren sighed. “I’m never drinking Jameson again.”

“That’s what you always say,” and Eren could hear her smile through the phone. “Besides, a little birdy told me you did have a good time.”

“Huh?” Eren scratched the back of his neck. “What lies is Jean spreading this time?”

“Oh, not Jean,” Mikasa replied. “Some guy called me and told me has your phone.”

Eren tried to think back on the night, but he didn’t remember any handsome strangers wooing him off his feet or a reasonable explanation for why someone would have his phone. All he could recall was the faint, soft red hue of the holiday lights and the amber of his glass.

And Jean’s stupid face.

“You know, normal people might be happy for their best friends when they get laid,” Eren sighed, digging his thumb into his forehead to try to relieve the building pressure.

Mikasa laughed. “Unless your hand suddenly developed its own identity, I highly doubt that.”

“So cold, Kasa,” Eren said and leaned over to check his nightstand for his phone. “I must have left it at the bar last night.” Mikasa said something that Eren didn’t quite catch as he felt around his pockets.

“Ohhh,” he said, as his fingers wrapped around something smooth and hard. When he pulled it out, he noticed it was a phone that looked identical to his own—it even had the same plain, black case. “I must have grabbed the wrong one.”

“Well lucky for you, I actually know the guy,” Mikasa said, and Eren could swear he heard a teasing edge to her voice that usually meant trouble. Huh? That didn’t make sense…

“Who is it?” Eren asked, idly swiping the homescreen to find it wasn’t locked with a password. There was a picture in the background of a redheaded girl with low pigtails. She had her arms wrapped around a taller guy with blonde hair and pale features, and they were both smiling like Hallmark card dorks. He didn’t recognize either of them.

“Funny enough, it’s my cousin,” Mikasa answered and there was definitely something hiding in the tone of her voice that sent alarm bells off in Eren’s mind.

“What cousin? Have I ever met him before?” Eren asked warily. “Does he have blonde hair?”

“What makes you say—” someone else’s voice cut in on Mikasa’s end, muffled and low. “Oh, Eren, Annie says hi.”

“Hi Annie,” Eren chirped, picturing her blond hair and icy blue eyes. But she was rather warm when you got to know her and besides, they liked all the same music. “Hey did you listen to that band I told you about?”

There was another quiet response on the other end that he couldn’t make out. “Oh yeah,” Mikasa said as low laughter filtered in-between her words. “Annie loved them. She says thanks for the reco.”

Eren hummed in response, thinking about the indie band he’d heard play on campus a few weeks back. He’d thought their weird, eclectic sound might interest Mikasa’s equally hipster girlfriend. “Glad to hear it.”

“Oops, hey Eren, I’ve got to go now,” Mikasa said a little more breathy than Eren really cared to think about. “Anyway, my cousin’s name is Levi, and he said he could meet you at Rose’s tonight.”

“Okay,” Eren replied, even if the thought of being near alcohol so soon made his empty stomach turn. “What time?”

“Late,” Mikasa said, but she sounded distracted. “He finishes his shift at ten.”

“His shift?” Eren asked, but there was a breathy sigh and the line went dead.

“Eww,” Eren said, throwing the phone away from him and then peeling off the covers. A hot shower was just what he needed—and then he could worry about getting his phone back.

 

< /// >

 

When Eren got out of the shower, he pulled on a pair of black joggers and an old flannel and went to the kitchen in search of food to sooth his hangover. The warm water had made him feel better and reduced the pounding at the back of his skull to a dull ache.

“Hey, princess,” Jean called from the kitchen, his mouth full of something and suffering from a case of otherworldly bedhead. “I made you some bacon.”

“Thank god,” Eren replied gratefully, taking out the orange juice from the fridge and setting two glasses on their small kitchen table. “I owe you, Kirschtein.”

When Jean set down two plates of bacon and toast, Eren took one bite and melted back into his chair with a hand on his stomach. “Shit that’s good.”

“Best hangover cure ever,” Jean tapped his fingers on the table. Eren noticed he was wearing the Kiss the Cook apron that Mikasa had given him last Christmas over his boxers. This one had a My Little Pony horse with a lavender mane on it. “So what did Kasa want?”

Eren took a long sip of orange juice before answering. “Oh, some guy called her. Apparently I got my phone mixed up with someone else’s last night at the bar.”

Jean snorted. “I believe it. You were pretty far gone.”

Eren pointed a crispy piece of bacon at Jean’s face. “If you had as many finals as me, you’d be gone too.”

“Hey, I’m not judging you,” Jean poured himself some more juice. “I know you’ve taken care of my drunk ass more than enough times.”

“True,” Eren said with a smile. “At least I didn’t try to take home one of the stuffed fish on the wall at Rose’s, remember that?”

“Oh, Erwin was so pissed,” Jean recalled with a laugh, doing his best to imitate Erwin’s pissed off face and legendary eyebrow wiggle. “He really almost banned me that time.”

“The only reason he didn’t is that I promised Bert’s band would play four weekends for free,” Eren said. “I thought Reiner was going to skin me alive when I told him.”

“Fuck, don’t remind me, I had to do Bert’s sweaty laundry for a month,” Jean said with scowl. “Hey, so did Mikasa mention who has your phone?”

“Oh,” Eren answered. “She said her cousin picked it up. Isn’t that weird?”

“Mikasa’s cousin?” Jean repeated a little sharply. When Eren looked up from his toast, there was a look on his roommate’s face that he couldn’t read.

“Yeah, I think she said his name was Levi or something.” Eren dusted the crumbs off his fingers.

Jean sank back in his chair with his hands cradling his head. “That’s very interesting, Eren.” He gave him a slow grin that set Eren’s nerves on edge.

“What’s your deal?” he asked suspiciously, gripping his fork rather tightly in one hand.

“Nothing,” Jean said, but he was still grinning crookedly and the gold of his eyes was lit and glowing with excitement. “Hey, is that his phone?”

Eren glanced down with a frown. He didn’t remember bringing the phone with him to the kitchen. “Yeah.” Jean continued to give him a sly look. “What?”

“Is it locked?” his roommate asked.

“No,” Eren responded honestly, before realizing he shouldn’t have said anything at all. Jean looked like Satan’s prince sitting on the other end of the table, and Eren was surprised when plumes of black smoke from the underworld didn’t immediately engulf their kitchen.

“Are you going to go through it?” he asked trying to be casual, but Eren could see the mischief in his eyes.

“That’s incredibly rude, Jean,” Eren reprimanded his roommate in his best grown up voice. “Not to mention juvenile. How old are you?”

Jean took the insult in stride. “Let me see it.”

“No, Jean,” Eren repeated.

“Come on, Eren, who doesn’t lock their phone?” Jean demanded, throwing his hands up. “He’s practically asking for it.”

“Jean, I think you’re being a douche,” Eren said with a glare. He wouldn’t want anyone to go through his phone. And then he suddenly paled, thinking that Levi had his phone—did he have his password set? He couldn’t remember. Was Levi going through his phone this very second?

Did he delete those pictures he’d taken when he was feeling lonely and low and needed a little confidence boost? He swallowed.

“Eren, stop being such a pussy,” Jean said, leaning over the table with his eyes narrowed on the phone.

There was a tussle as Jean jumped over the table. They both dived for the phone at the same time, knocking over a glass of orange juice in the process. Jean pinned Eren to the floor with an arm pulled behind his back, and the phone skidded across the wooden floor and disappeared under the couch. Jean twisted Eren’s arm hard, and then lunged for it.

“Oww, fuck, Jean!” When he flipped over, he cradled his arm to his chest. “Why do you have to be such a dick?”

“Hah!” Jean yelled triumphantly, ignoring Eren and pulling the phone up and out of reach.

“Jean you’re a fucking psycho,” Eren grit out, kicking his friend in the shin for good measure.

“Thank you.” Jean crawled up on the couch and immediately began scrolling through the phone. “Oh, fuck, naked pics!”

“Jean that’s a total invasion of privacy,” Eren tried again, reaching over his chest to grab the phone. Because he was so much taller, it was easier for Jean to hold it just out of his reach.

“Damn, Eren this guy is ripped,” his roommate whistled low in appreciation. “Wonder who he was sending these to.”

“His girlfriend, obviously,” Eren said tersely, folding his arms over his chest.

“What?” Jean asked, tearing his eyes from the screen to give Eren a confused look.

“His girlfriend, the one with the red hair and her arms around him in the photo,” Eren gestured with his hand, as if it were obvious.

“Ohhh,” Jean said with a smirk. “Right. His girlfriend.”

“What?” Eren narrowed his eyes.

Jean shook his head, and bit his lip. “Nothing.”

“He doesn’t look much like Mikasa with that blonde hair,” Eren commented. “Maybe he’s adopted.”

“Yeah sure, adopted,” Jean said quickly, scrolling through more things in the phone. “His dick is distracting.”

“JEAN,” Eren yelled, standing up and moving closer, ready for another brawl.

Jean tossed it at Eren with a laugh, and then started typing furiously on his own phone, ignoring Eren.

Eren put in it his pocket without looking at it. “Dick.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jean said, snapping his head up to look at Eren. “Hey I’m going out tonight.”

“Okay?” Eren said, still annoyed at Jean for looking through Levi’s phone like that.

“Just wanted to let you know that I won’t be home later tonight,” Jean said slowly, and there was a suggestive tone to his voice.

“Got it,” Eren said. “You’re getting laid and won’t be home. Cool story, Jean.”

Jean threw his head back and laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing man,” his roommate said, the corner of his mouth quirked up. “For someone so smart you are really, really dumb sometimes.”

Eren slammed a pillow in Jean’s face and tried to suffocate him, but it didn’t work.

 

< /// >

 

A few hours later and Eren was sitting alone at the bar, waiting for Mikasa’s cousin to arrive. He’d gotten there early and ordered water for his trouble, the taste of Jameson still strong on his tongue from the other night.

Jean spent the rest of the afternoon acting weird and secretive, and he’d bullied Eren into putting on a nice pair of jeans, but couldn’t convince him to change the flannel he’d thrown on after his shower. His roommate’s sudden interest in his wardrobe was worrisome to say the least, but Eren couldn’t make much sense of it.

Fifteen minutes after ten and still no sign of Mikasa’s tall, blonde cousin with the nice smile.

“Anyone sitting here?” Someone asked to Eren’s right. The voice sounded familiar, but when Eren turned, he was face-to-face with a man he’d never seen before.

“Nope, all yours,” Eren said with a smile.

The stranger nodded his head and settled on the stool. “Cool.”

Eren sipped his water and checked the phone that wasn’t his phone in his pocket. The homescreen lit up and the smiling strangers seemed to mock him.

“Can I get you a drink?” the guy next to him asked. He had a slow, deliberate drawl and strong features that Eren didn’t mind.

He debated saying no, but one free drink never killed him before. “Sure.”

“Jameson right?” the stranger asked with a raised eyebrow.

Eren made a face. “I drank too much of that last night. How about just a Bud Light?

The stranger smiled a little. It was kind of secretive and nice, and the movement made thin, half-moon dimples stand out low on his cheeks, near the corner of his lips. “Sure.”

“How’d you know I was a Jameson guy anyway?” Eren asked after the other man placed the order, leaning a little closer to the stranger. Eren started calling him James in his head, for short.

James’ eyebrows knitted together for a moment in confusion, but after a second the looked cleared. “Lucky, I guess.”

Eren nodded. “You come to Wall Rose a lot?”

James, the stranger, tapped his fingers on the bar. “Oh, Erwin’s an old friend, really.”

“Yeah?” Eren asked, his interest piqued.

His new friend nodded. “We go way back to high school.”

“That so?” Eren laughed. “Guess you knew him when he first opened this bar?”

“Sure did.”

“So I guess you couldn’t talk him out of the nautical theme, huh?” Eren asked, fighting to keep the smile off his face.

“Nope, he had his heart set on it, the big goofball. To this day he says it was Rose’s idea but I know better. Speaking of which,” he turned his head toward a woman standing in front of an old-looking cash register further down the bar. “Hey, Rose, hi there. Can we get a few of the specials?”

“Oh, honey, I didn’t see you there,” Rose said with a friendly grin. Her eyes slid to Eren for a moment, which only seemed to make her smile wider. “Coming right up.”

“Thanks Rose,” James said. He turned back to Eren. “You ever have the special before?”

“Yeah, it’s not so bad, except for the cherry,” Eren replied.

“The cherry is a killer,” he agreed. “Tastes like nail—”

“Nail polish remover,” Eren said at the same time. They shared a shy smile over the rim of their beers. For a moment, Eren felt drawn in by the stormy blue of the other man’s gaze, adrift and floating towards something terrifyingly wonderful.

The spell was broken by the reappearance of Rose, who set a tray down filled with several small, red cherry shots in cheap plastic cups. They reminded Eren of the kind that used to come with cough syrup when he was a kid.

“Y’all enjoy now,” she gave James a wink and disappeared into the back kitchen.

Eren and the newcomer each took one and clinked the plastic together before downing the shot and eating the cherry. They did a few more, until the tray was just a collection of empty cups and heat was pooling in the pit of Eren’s stomach.

“Urgh,” Eren said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand—his cheeks were warming pleasantly from the alcohol.

“Hey, come here I want to show you something,” James said suddenly, a playful look on his face that Eren instantly liked.

For the first time in what felt like hours, Eren remembered his reason for being at the bar. A quick glance to his left and behind him showed him that the tall blonde from the homescreen picture wasn’t at the bar.

“Okay,” Eren said.

They walked to the back of the bar, where it was less crowded—strangely enough, for all his time spent at Wall Rose, Eren had never ventured this far back. The nautical theme and red Christmas lights followed them around the corner to a small alcove, where pictures of Erwin and a smiling Rose adorned every surface, mixed with framed yellowed letters and old fishing lures.

“Look at this,” James said.

“Holy shit is that an old payphone?” Eren nearly screamed.

“Yep, the original.”

Eren whistled. “Wow, I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid.”

His companion winced a little at that but scrunched up his nose in a small smile.

“Does it work?” Eren asked, leaning in to study the rusting metal and twisting the curled wire around his fingers.

“Here,” James said, leaning in closer and pulling the phone up to Eren’s ear. A dull, faded dial tone filled his ears, thumping and slow, almost like the other man was holding up a softly beating heart.

Those dark eyes were on him again, pulling him in like a ship lost at sea.

“What time is it?” Eren whispered in the space between, which seemed to be getting smaller and smaller by the second.

“Nearly midnight.” James’ lips looked red and wet from the cherry shots.

Eren swallowed and looked down at floor, and then back up to the other man’s face. His pale skin took on the red hue of the holiday lights, making him pink and flushed and so full of life that Eren couldn’t possibly stop himself from asking, “Can I kiss you?”

The stranger bit his lip, a tempest swirling through his gaze and pinning Eren in place. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

They pressed their mouths together then, sweetly, perfectly. Eren smiled and kissed the other man, and he tasted like the cherries from earlier, sweet and a little bitter. The velvety softness of his lips mixed with the warm heat of his mouth made Eren feel a little like he was drowning under the hazy red lights.

“What’s your name?” Eren asked, when they pulled apart slightly to catch their breaths.

The stranger’s eyes were still closed, but they flashed open at the sound of Eren’s voice. “What?”

Eren laughed softly. “Well I just kissed you, so I think I should know your name.”

He looked a little shy then. “It’s Levi.”

Eren stared at him silently, blinking slowly. “You’re Levi?”

“I thought you figured it out?” Levi removed his hands from around Eren’s waist.

“Mikasa’s cousin?” Eren asked.

“Yeah.” Levi was biting his lip again, and fuck it if that wasn’t the sexiest thing Eren had ever seen.

“The one I’ve been waiting for?” Levi nodded. “The person who has my phone?”

“That’s me.” Levi said quietly.

Eren thought about everything that had happened to him that day. Mikasa’s sneaky laugh, Jean’s weird announcement that Eren would have the apartment to himself, the way Levi had known his favorite drink.

“You were here last night,” Eren said slowly. “I remember your voice.”

“I told your friend I thought you were cute,” Levi admitted. “Taking your phone was an accident, but when I realized you knew Mikasa, well, it kind of felt like fate—as dumb as that sounds.”

“Who’s the redhead on your homescreen?” Eren asked.

“My little sister and her fiancé—my family,” Levi said. “They remind me why I do the things I do.”

“What things?” Eren asked, confused.

“I’m a police officer,” Levi said, shrugging his shoulders. “I thought Mikasa told you.”

“Did you go through my phone?” Eren suddenly blurted out, nervous that Levi’s detective skills had gotten the better of him.

Levi laughed. “No, and I couldn’t even if I wanted to—you have it locked.”

Eren’s shoulders sagged in relief. “I didn’t go through your phone, either, just the homescreen.”

“Clearly,” Levi said gently. “Or else I think you would have recognized me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything when you got here?”

Levi opened his mouth and then closed it., and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I’m not sure,” he struggled. “I wasn’t sure at first, and then when I realized, I was having too much fun talking with you. I thought it would be awkward.”

“And this isn’t awkward?” Eren teased.

Levi flushed. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Hmmm,” Eren said, and then moved closer to tilt Levi’s face up. “I still want to kiss you again.”

Levi looked startled. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Eren said quietly, and then pulled Levi closer to press their mouths together. It was deeper than their first, the sensual slide of lips against tongue and the barest hint of teeth that made Eren’s nerves as raw as live wires.

Levi was sliding his hot mouth down Eren’s neck and his hand was tracing slow circles on the inside of Eren’s wrist, and it felt so good and unbelievable at all once. He felt a little like he was unraveling, like the thinning wire of the payphone perched beside them.

As Levi’s teeth scraped lightly against his collarbone, Eren thought about what Jean had said to him before he left. “Hey,” Eren said gently. “Do you… maybe want to go back to my place?”

The way Levi smiled, sharp and full of wicked promise, made Eren’s heart pick up speed in his chest. Everything looked red again, swirling and perfect, like the way Levi’s voice had sent sparks spiraling across his eyelids last night.

Maybe there was such a thing as a holiday miracle, after all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact - there is a dive bar in my town that is very similar to this - and I love it. And yes, the cherry shots do taste like nail polish remover. 
> 
> Happy holidays, friends! Don't be a grinch and leave a little love : )
> 
> Find me on tumblr at cinnamonskull.


End file.
